• March 29, 2024

Jamaica Set to Consider Passing Tobacco, Vaping Rules

 Jamaica Set to Consider Passing Tobacco, Vaping Rules

Credit: Zabanski

Credit: Zabanski

Jamaica is set to consider comprehensive legislation in the House of Representatives that would address the devastating effects of tobacco and e-cigarette consumption in Jamaica, Minister of Health and Wellness, Christopher Tufton said.

The Tobacco Control 2020 Bill will, among other things, impose restrictions on the marketing of vaping and other tobacco products as well as prohibit sales to children, according to Tufton.

Tufton said the legislation is now at the committee stage “and I am happy to report that we are well advanced in that process,” according to Caribbean National Weekly.

“I expect over the next month, six weeks maybe, to table the comprehensive Bill, and I urge my colleagues to quickly pass this bill for the protection of the Jamaican people and to reduce the cost of treatment,” he said.

Outlining some of the provisions of the Bill, Tufton informed that in addition to curtailing the marketing of tobacco products and prohibiting sales to children, it will also prohibit the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems such as e-cigarettes in public spaces.

More Jamaicans are embracing vaping to help quit combustible products, according to vape shop owners on the island.